Anisotropic conductive film (ACF) is an adhesive interconnect system that includes electrically conductive film. The electrically conductive film generally includes conductive particles dispersed within binder material. ACF is commonly used in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to create the electrical connection between the display components and the integrated circuit (IC) components. In a typical LCD application, ACF is placed between electrodes of a display component and electrodes of an IC component. The display component and IC component are then pressed together such that an electrical and mechanical connection is made. The resulting structure is anisotropic in that there is unidirectional electrical connection between the display component and the IC component (z direction) but no electrical connection between adjacent electrodes of the display component or IC component.
A trend in new product designs is to reduce distances between bonding pads between electrodes of display components and IC components. This, however, can create problems using traditional ACF technologies. For example, the smaller distances between electrodes can result in higher probabilities of conductive particles of the conductive film to cluster between the electrodes and cause electrical shorts. What are needed, therefore, are improved anisotropic conductive film structures to accommodate current trends in LCD technology.